At this week’s State Board meeting, agency staff
presented information on a new resource that will help educators better prepare
for the requirements of No Child Left
Behind.I have included
an overview of this information in today’s message.I am looking forward to working with you
during the next several months as we formally introduce the Illinois Assessment
Frameworks.As always, your
feedback will be most beneficial to us.

The Illinois State Board of Education today approved a
five-year renewal of the charter of the Prairie Crossing Charter School of
Grayslake to Begin July 1, 2004, when the school’s current
5-year charter expires.

Prairie Crossing has an enrollment of 260 students and
has been in operation for four years.It will operate for the 2003-04 school year under the final year of its
original 5-year charter.It is the
only charter school in
Illinois chartered
by the State Board rather than a local school district.Further details are available on the
agency website in a press release and within the Board meeting documents.

State Board Hears Presentation From Three Districts In Financial
Difficulty

The number of
schools in financial difficulty continues to increase. To understand why this is
happening and to better predict its occurrence, the State Board has adopted a
new financial designation system based on the Financial Profile and has also
designated three staff as Regional Financial Consultants to work with districts
in financial difficulty on a daily basis. Because the Board members feel it is
also critical for them to hear directly from districts to understand the
specific financial issues facing them, we invited three such districts to
present at this week’s board meeting. Representatives from
ElginSchool District #46, Calhoun CUSD
#40, and West Harvey–Dixmoor PSD #147 shared their
stories with us and contributed to both our understanding of their problems and
our ability to formulate legislative or administrative ways to help districts in
trouble. Our great thanks goes to those districts
fortheir
willingness to inform us.

State Board Announces
Important New Resources for Educators

At its monthly meeting, the Illinois State Board of
Education announced the completion of the Illinois Assessment Frameworks which
will help educators better prepare students to meet the assessment requirements
of No Child Left Behind beginning in the 2005-06 school year.

The Assessment Frameworks concentrate on math, reading,
writing, science, and social science and are more focused than the State Goals
for Learning.Teachers, curriculum
developers, and state test designers will all be working from the same page to
help ensure student success.

The Framework for each subject consists of Assessment
Objectives at each grade level, linked directly to the Illinois Learning
Standards and providing clear, concise statements of what students will be
expected to know and do on
Illinois statewide
assessments.They describe the
percent of questions on each test for each objective.In addition, they identify “enabling”
objectives from previous grades that will help students and teachers understand
prerequisite skills.

The primary goal of the Assessment Frameworks is to help
educators make good choices about what should be taught and the emphasis to
place on specific skills and topics when they are planning lessons and making
curricular changes that will best help students learn.Additionally, the Assessment Objectives
specify what is considered “fair game” to be tested on the state assessments
beginning in the 2005-06 school year and beyond so
districts will have ample time to make any needed curriculum changes.

The new Assessment Frameworks are expected to be
available on-line within the next few weeks, and we will be communicating with
you soon regarding other ways we plan to help all
Illinois educators
become familiar with this important new learning resource.

Fall
Data Collection Update:Fall
Housing & Immunization Go Electronic

The Fall Housing/Enrollment Report (87-03) and the
Immunization Survey (70-11) will be collected online via IWAS this year and will
be available on Sept. 30.The
Unfilled Positions Survey, which has been on IWAS the past two years, will be
available the first week in October.Paper copies of these three data forms will not be
accepted this year.Questions
should be directed to the
ISBECallCenter at 217/558-3600.

The Teacher Salary Study and the Reduction in Force
surveys will continue to be collected on paper forms which will be mailed in
September.

Fall
Housing/Enrollment Report

A viewable form of the survey will be available on IWAS
the week of September 15.Users
will be able to access the system on September 30.

Schools are required to report their enrollments as of
September 30th and forward their completed form to the district
superintendent by October 15.The
district superintendent will review school documents and submit them to ISBE by
October 29.District
Superintendents also have the option of entering data for some, or all, of the
schools in their districts.

Immunization
Survey

Users will be able to access the Immunization system on
October 1.The due date for
submitting the Immunization School Survey is on or before
November 15, 2003.Immunization data must be reported at
the school level for both public and nonpublic schools.

Public Schools:1) the school level data must be
submitted to the district-level IWAS administrator (usually the district
superintendent); 2) the district superintendent (IWAS district-level
administrator) must electronically approve and submit the data to ISBE.

The Unfilled Positions Survey will be available on IWAS
the first week in October.As in
years past, districts are to report the number of unfilled positions as of
October 1, 2003 and submit the data to
ISBE by October 22, 2003.

Teacher
Salary Study

Data forms (paper) for the 2003-04 school year were mailed out this week.They are due back to ISBE on
September 25, 2003. Questions should
be directed to Richard Yong at 217/782-3950.

Reduction
in Force Survey (86-28)

The data collection forms will be mailed out in paper
format to school districts in mid-September to collect both the 2002 and 2003
district level data.These forms
are due back to ISBE in late fall after all the 2002 and 2003 dismissals,
recalls and re-employments are finished.Questions should be directed to NiannChern at 217/782-3950.

USDE Memo Regarding Special Needs
Transportation

Communication between local school districts and
transportation providers is critical to addressing transportation issues for
special needs students.The United
States Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services has issued a memorandum which encourages
effective communication in this regard and we support their effort.The complete text of the memorandum can
be accessed at http://www.isbe.net/funding/PDF/SpecialEdpdf/special_needs_transportation.pdf

RFP
Issued

A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued by the State
Board of Education on September 10, 2003, to identify up to
6 high schools interested in adopting the High Schools That
Work (HSTW) model.School districts with high schools that offer both academic and career
and technical programs approved by ISBE are eligible to apply.

High
Schools That Work (HSTW) is the
nation’s first large-scale effort to engage state, district and school leaders
and teachers in partnerships with students, parents and the community to improve
the way high school students are prepared for work and further education. It provides a framework of
goals, key practices and key conditions for accelerating learning and setting
higher standards.Schools are
encouraged to eliminate the general track of studies and to strengthen their
courses in math, science and language arts.
Illinois is the 30th
state to join the consortium.

The funding period for the grants is from
January 1, 2004, to July 31, 2004, with a commitment
(depending on the availability of funds) to continue the initiative for an
additional four years.

A webcast was recorded to
assist respondents to the RFP in lieu of a bidder’s conference.It was designed to answer questions and
provide specific information about requirements, fiscal information, proposal
format and criteria for evaluation.The webcast may be accessed directly at http://www.isbe.net/webcast/cd_01.htm.The complete RFP and webcast may be accessed through the ISBE homepage at www.isbe.net.Click “Grants” on left and scroll to
“RFP’s and Competitive Bids.”

For more information on this RFP, contact Dora Welker at
217/782-4620.

Safe
And Drug-Free Prevention Resources For
Schools

ISBE and Prevention First, Inc. (PFI), a nonprofit
training and information organization, have entered into a partnership to inform
schools about the wide variety of scientifically based prevention resources
available to them through PFI.

Research shows that prevention efforts in schools work
to help children and teens avoid drugs, violence and other risky behaviors. PFI
offers Illinois
educators the tools they need to get prevention messages to students and
parents.The organization's Lura Lynn Ryan Prevention Research Library holds more than
13,000 books, videos, periodicals and curricula on subjects ranging from
conflict resolution to violence and teen pregnancy. Librarians also will provide
customized research on prevention topics.Branches are at 2800
Montvale Drive in
Springfield (800/252-8591) and
720
N. Franklin St., Suite 500, in
Chicago (800/572-5385).Both are open from 8:30 a.m. to 5
p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Patrons in other
Illinois cities may borrow items
via the mail or interlibrary loan.

PFI also houses a clearinghouse containing pamphlets,
handouts, posters and myriad other items on drug use, gambling, anger management
and more. The items are available by mail order.

Library services and clearinghouse materials are free to
all adults in
Illinois. Catalogs
for both can be found on www.prevention.org.The Web site also provides information
about training programs offering continuing education units on a wide variety of
prevention and professional skill topics such as cultural competency and youth
group facilitation.

Illinois Awarded
FederalSchool Breakfast Start-Up
Grant

We are pleased to announce that
Illinois is
receiving federal dollars for targeted schools to implement School Breakfast
Programs.Partners in the grant
include the Illinois Hunger Coalition, Midwest Dairy Council, the St. Louis
District Dairy Council, and the Illinois Association of Community Action.The grant activities include a statewide
breakfast conference, onsite visits providing technical assistance, a breakfast
newsletter, and other resources to assist in the implementation of the School
Breakfast Program.This grant will
allow 235 schools with high rates of free and reduced-price eligible students to
receive funding to begin School Breakfast Programs.

NationalSchool Lunch Week October
13-17

For 57 years, the National School Lunch Week has been
celebrated in October to help raise awareness of, and garner support for, the
role that school foodservice and nutrition programs play in education.This year’s theme, Wild about School
Lunch, highlights the enthusiasm and energy of school lunch personnel
in this endeavor.

Visit the
American School Food Service Association’s Website at www.asfsa.org/meetingsandevents/nslw/for
menus, proclamations, a toolkit, logos, activities and more to plan your NSLW
celebration.

Grant
Funds Available for Nutrition Program Start-up and
Expansion

Share Our Strength has announced funding opportunities
for current or potential program sponsors to increase the number of children
participating in after- school and summer nutrition programs.Fund amounts of $15,000 will be awarded
for start-up costs incurred in initiating and supporting sites, and expansion
grants are available to increase program participation at existing sites.The grant applications are due September
30. Visit www.greatamericanbakesale.orgfor the grant application.Click on the “Childhood Hunger” button.